First, just the facts, ma’am.
It was a great season. When a team goes 12-2 and wins 12 straight games in the process, something has to be going right. Hats off to the Griz players, coaches and support personnel.
The Grizzlies had a great defense, easily as good as any I’ve ever seen in all the years I’ve watched Grizzly football, now numbering something (way) past 40.
Probably the best, actually.
The Grizzlies also had some great offensive players. But I have to count myself among the many, many folks who watched Montana play this season who question whether or not the Grizzlies had a great offense, or even a good one.
When Bobby Hauck and his staff first arrived on the scene back in the spring of 2003 I was working at Clear Channel Radio and did pre-spring ball interviews with Hauck, offensive coordinator Rob Phenicie and then-defensive coordinator Jeff Hammerschmidt.
It was the usual boiler plate stuff - we’re going to work hard, get as much in as we can in the spring and fine tune in the fall - you know the drill.
But one response I got from Phenicie nearly bowled me over then and has stuck with me ever since as I’ve watched the Grizzly offense sputter more often than it should have.
Harking back to Yo Humphrey’s senior season - when defenses stacked up to stop Yo’s devastating ground assault - I noted that the Grizzlies started throwing to him out of the backfield and he became a true double threat.
I then asked Phenicie if the same thing might happen with Lex Hilliard if teams put extra emphasis on stopping him on the ground. Phenicie’s answer?
“We don’t throw to the running backs in this offense.”
I thought he was joking. After all, why would you not try to get the ball in Lex Hilliard’s hands in the open field any way you possibly could and any way the opposing defense would make available? Shoot, there are teams in our league and others that would have had Hilliard returning punts and kickoffs.
Turns out he wasn’t joking. Over the Hauck regime’s four years, passes to running backs have been rare at best and screens to running backs rarer still. Then there are the tight ends, but that’s another story.
In 2005 we heard the offense was held back because of an inexperienced quarterback. In 2006 it was held back by an unimaginative offensive scheme. We were told the Grizzly offense is extremely complicated because of the many reads quarterbacks and receivers must go through to make it work.
While statistics might say the offense worked, reality says otherwise. The lack of consistent offense put the defense in tough spots way too many times and put the team in jeopardy of losing games it shouldn’t have.
At home games Griz fans got to watch some creative - but not gimmicky - offenses that would have had great success had it not been for Montana’s superb defense.
In the playoff semifinals they watched a UMass offense that was creative and productive, not gimmicky, and far from predictable. Montana’s lack of offense, probably as much as UMass’s defense, forced UM’s defense to be on the field for nearly 40 minutes. The Grizzly defense, to its credit, kept the game as close on the scoreboard as it was.
If the offense is so complicated that it makes it difficult for players to produce consistently, regardless of the defenses being thrown up against it, maybe it’s time to look at something less complicated. Something that uses all possible weapons in the passing game including the running backs and tight ends.
If tight ends are only in the game to block, why not just recruit two or three more guys who are 290 pounds or more and put receiver numbers on them. You could still throw to them occasionally, although it might limit them from going downfield where the Griz passing game seemed addicted to going so much of the time.
When Joe Glenn arrived in 2000 it didn’t take long for Joe and spectators to figure out that something was afoul with the Grizzly offense. Glenn determined that offensive coordinator Ron Richards - a former Griz player and a great guy - wasn’t able to do the job, and he made a midseason change.
I don’t know if the problem with the Grizzly offense can be pinned on just one person. And like many of you out there, I don’t like it when home fans boo because of what they see their team doing - or not doing - on the field.
I do know that the vast majority of the time fans weren’t booing the players. They were booing the offense and those who control it.
I don’t know if a change at offensive coordinator by itself would solve the problem.
I do know the Grizzly offense needs serious re-evaluation before spring ball begins. The offensive players need and deserve it.
- Bill Schwanke, Piece of Mind
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Richard Cranium wrote on Dec 28, 2006 7:11 PM:
" I agree with all that you say. Our Griz should have been playing for the NC, this year. It would have if not for RP! "
Jim wrote on Dec 28, 2006 7:25 PM:
" GREAT artical - I hope this in the newspaper as I am reading it online from Minnesota. This had to be said. Thanks Bill "
GrizzlyEdd wrote on Dec 28, 2006 10:56 PM:
" Finally someone of some note has the "guts" to print what a lot of Griz fans I know have been secretly and not secretly saying. It has been so hard to see an offense with so very many excellent, talented, hardworking, and athletic young men put into a situation by coaching where they just seem to sputter at the worst times. Left me and many others just scratching our heads.... "with all this talent, what is going on? It can't be the players, they are about the best there is at this level, so what is the problem?" Therein lies the problem.. so far there has been NO answer... "
Harm wrote on Dec 29, 2006 2:43 AM:
" Being loyal to your employees is great, but is very detrimental, as we witnessed this year, when it reaches the point where it becomes glaringly obvious that they have become an unimaginative cancer. RP is in dire need of being removed due to lack of production and an apparent inability to adapt. "
Bo wrote on Dec 29, 2006 8:54 AM:
" “We don’t throw to the running backs in this offense.” = Dumbest comment ever made by a coach at any level. "
HardyCreek1 wrote on Dec 29, 2006 9:20 AM:
" Can someone please explain to me why we don't use an offense that throws to our running backs? Most teams that play for the National Championship seem to do it pretty darn well. "
billingsgriz wrote on Dec 29, 2006 9:22 AM:
" Thanks for having the guts to say, Bill, what the overwhelming majority of GRIZ fans are thinking!
I know a lot of GRIZ here in Billings. If there is one that likes Coach Phenicie's offense, I have yet to meet him or her!
Hopefully, in 2007, Coach Phenicie will start to more fully utilize all of his weapons on offense, including his backs and tight ends as receivers!
"
grizzfan wrote on Dec 29, 2006 1:14 PM:
" Great editorial Bill. But I've noticed another difference in our coaching staff's approach. Recall Don Read, Mick Dennehey or Joe Glenn wearing headsets for the whole game. I'll wager many of Phenocie's calls are short stopped along the way. In fact I know they are. "
Sandy Psyk wrote on Dec 29, 2006 4:02 PM:
" Great review, put my thoughts into words.
Thank you, Bill
Sandy Psyk "
BigtimeGrizFan... wrote on Dec 30, 2006 1:43 AM:
" Something Hauck needs to get through his thick skull: any school where he wishes to apply for a vacant head-coaching position will have a selection committee to review applicants.
On that committee will be some former coaches and/or players who will review game tapes and stats from the applicant's current school.
Any committee reviewing Hauck will notice that his offense at Montana hasn't been consistent--very erratic at times--and they will grill him should he be the finalist for their school's head coaching position.
"Coach, in your offense your quarterback was sacked more times last year than any other quarterback in 1-AA football? Why is that?
"Coach Hauck, we noticed that your offense features very few passes to your tight ends and running backs. What is your reasoning behind that decision?"
"Coach Hauck, would you run the same offense at ______________ as you now run at Montana? If we were to hire you, would your offense change at all and if it did change, how would it change? Would you be bringing your current offensive coordinator with you or would you hire another offensive coordinator?"
What Hauck has to remember is while he has been successful as Head Coach at The University of Montana, he didn't rebuild the program from the ground up like new Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh did at The University of San Diego with 0 scholarships--Hauck inherited a program from Joe Glenn, Mick Dennehy, and Don Read that had 17 consecutive winning seasons, 5 consecutive Big Sky Conference Championships, and 4 trips to the national championship game in 9 years and two national championships. And his team plays in the best facilities in 1-AA! He has simply maintained the excllence of the program--not an easy job but also not nearly as difficult as turing around a losing program with a second-rate stadium and other facilities and lukewarm fan support.
And if Bobby Hauck refuses to change course on his offense and start running the ball more consistently on first and second downs and throwing to his backs and receivers, he's going to have a difficult time moving to a premiere job in The Pac 10 or Big 12 due to his sputtering, erratic offfense and blind loyalty to his offensive coordinator Rob Phenicie, especially if Kraig Paulson, his defensive coordinator and architect of our awesome defense--the strength of the team--decides not to go with Hauck but remain in Missoula to become the GRIZ next head coach, a job Kraig has coveted ever since he played for the GRIZ 20+ years ago.
"
Thank God Somebody Said It.. wrote on Dec 30, 2006 1:49 AM:
" Our O.C. sux. Has for years. What unblinding loyalty does Bobby Hauck have to him, that he won't kick him to the curb. Thank God somebody had the guts to post this article in the first place. It is overdue, and welcome. Bobby...wake up! You need a new O.C. !!!!!!
"
GrizFan wrote on Dec 30, 2006 1:50 PM:
" Missoulian Editor: WHY ISN'T THIS PIECE IN PRINT EDITION??!!! "
Richard Jennings wrote on Dec 30, 2006 2:51 PM:
" I have no issue with the column by Mr. Schwanke. In fact, I believe Bill makes excellent points, without making it personal against the Coach or his Offensive Co-Ordinator. What strikes me as rather peculiar, is the fact that a letter to The Missoulian has to be signed by the person who writes it in order to be published, yet that is not the case here. The majority of the posters here are hiding their identity. It appears there may be a couple using their name and they are to be commended. Several of the anonymous posters laud Mr. Schwanke for having "the guts" to write the column, yet they are cowards when it comes to revealing who they are. The person who resorts to name calling being the biggest coward of them all. Human behaviour never ceases to amaze me.
"
Richard Jennings wrote on Dec 30, 2006 3:21 PM:
" I agree with the sentiments of Mr Schwanke. I wonder why the Missoulian allows these anonymous posters. I have to laugh at the people who laud Mr Schwanke for his guts, then use some pseudo name themselves. "
Joe E. wrote on Dec 30, 2006 5:57 PM:
" Hey Bill, here's a novel idea...how about you or one of your press buddies actually stand-up and ask a hard question like this every once in awhile. What good is this article going to do without ever asking Hauck or Phenicie these questions? Ok, you're upset with the offense...so are we. Now do your job as the press and address the issue in a form of a question to the coach! In my opinion, you and the rest of the press are as much to blame for not having the balls to ask the coaches. Big deal, you wrote and article, the season is over, we still didn't play for the NC, and hopefully Santa brought all of you a pair to actually ask the coaches about this stuff this off-season. "
P. Murray wrote on Dec 28, 2006 6:48 PM: